Misano MotoGP: Stoner Leads FP1

Up until the last few minutes of the first free practice at Misano, Round 13 of the 2011 MotoGP Championship, the top time looked to go to either Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa or Yamaha Factory Racing Ben Spies.

Pedrosa, who won last year at Misano, lead the beginning of the 45-minute session, but was topped by the American Spies.

But the current points leader Casey Stoner put in a fierce last lap, piloting his Repsol Honda RC212V to the top spot; the Australian posted a 1:34.180, which was 0.286 of a second faster than Spies, and 0.349 of a second quicker than Pedrosa.

Fourth quickest in FP1 was the third and final Repsol Honda rider, Andrea Dovizioso; he posted a 1:35.011 at Misano, and was followed 0.077 back by San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Marco Simoncelli.